Notable Quotables - 06/25/1990

Published: 6/25/1990 1:00 AM ET

Fascist Flag
Protectors

"By one measure,
the eruption of patriotism comes at an unlikely moment. Typically, nations
cling to symbols at times of insecurity - Adolf Hitler made it a crime to
'publicly profane' the Swastika."- Newsweek Senior Writer Eloise Salholz, June 25 issue.

Reunification:
Disaster for German Women

"Economic freedom
means freedom to fail as well as succeed. And for most German women, whether
in East or West, reunification is looking like a giant step backward."
- USA Today business reporter Martha T. Moore, June 4.

"East Germany
provides what may be the world's most extensive family services system. It
includes abortion on demand and free day care centers for
children....Reunification threatens more than the economic security of East
German women. It could also mean an end to their legal right to free, easy
abortions."
- Reporter Allen Pizzey on the CBS Evening News, June 16.

Tax Hikes:
Voting For Or Against?

"Firing up the next
tax rebellion: Voters are rejecting most of the tax hikes on their ballots,
and property-tax revolts are brewing all over the country"
- U.S. News & World Report, June 11

"Saying Yes to
Taxes: Confronted with the deepening federal deficit, states are raising taxes
- or letting the voters do it"
- Newsweek, June 18

Poor, Poor PLO

"Beyond words, what
guarantees can you give the Palestinians that decisions you made on
immigration will not result in further usurpation of their lands, and why is
it that President Gorbachev has shown so much human sympathy for the
Palestinians, while the U.S. vetoes even a U.N. look at their plight under
military siege?"
- UPI White House correspondent Helen Thomas during the June 3 summit news
conference.

Communists
Winning or Losing?

"Ex-Communists
Decisively Lead Bulgaria Voting"
- New York Times front page story, June 11

"Bulgarian
Communists Take a Strong Lead in Early Returns"
- same paper, same day, same story, page A12

Koppel's
Peacekeeper: The Soviet Union

"We may well over
the next 10 or 15 years come to view the Soviet Union as being the power, the
only power, that has the capacity of keeping China out of Europe, the only
power that has the capacity of keeping Moslem fundamentalism out of Europe,
the only power, in fact, we may find ourselves looking back wistfully five or
ten years from now at Eastern Europe and saying 'Boy, I remember when Eastern
Europe used to be nice and quiet.' "
- Ted Koppel on McLaughlin: One on One, June 3.

Nothing Like
Keeping Opinions to Yourself

"Expanding food
stamps is obviously something that needs to be done, but the survey done in
Michigan showed that a significant portion of those who were going hungry were
eligible for food stamps, but weren't getting them. They didn't think they
were eligible. The rules are awfully confusing."
- Question by Deborah Norville to Rep. Mike Espy (D-MS) on Today,
June 18.

Equal Blame for
Wrecking the World

"It's hard to get
the world psyched up for a summit when the stakes keep going down. It used to
be the future of all mankind hung in the balance every time the Soviets and
Americans talked. That's all changed since our respective leaders finally
figured out the expensive and dangerous race to build more and more nuclear
weapons was pretty much a waste of everyone's time and resources. There's a
limit, after all, to how much of the world you can wreck and still feel good
about yourself."
- CBS This Morning co-host Harry Smith in his weekly "Record of
Who We Are" commentary, June 1.

Painless Tax
Increases

"But states all
over the country are in big hurt because the federal government has certainly
taken a lot of money back that they were giving to the states traditionally,
for years and years and years. Isn't this a pretty painless way to put money
back in the coffers of states all over the countr?"
- Smith's question to economist Arthur Laffer on California's doubling of the
state gas tax, June 6.

Proletarians of
America Unite!

"The Marxist call
for workers of the world to unite might be a dead issue in Gorbachev's home,
but problems like poor health care are kindling the struggle anew for the
proletariats in the USA."
- USA Today Inquiry Editor Barbara Reynolds, June 1.

Understating
Soviet Achievements

"U.S. textbooks
also have given little credit to the Soviets for their role in defeating
Germany in World War II. And educators said there has been an emphasis on
Soviet totalitarianism but little examination of the achievements of Soviet
society."
- Washington Post education reporter Barbara Vobejda, May 27.

Same Old Sludge

"But the fact that
George Bush and Ronald Reagan have presided over governmental scandals that
make Teapot Dome look like a picnic seems to have no impact on their
popularity. Indeed, none of the criminals involved in any of these massive
frauds seems to really pay...Given the fact that crime seems to pay at the
top, should we be surprised that young people nearer the bottom have such lax
moral attitudes?"
- Washington Post freelancer and Boston Globe
"frequent contributor" Suzanne Gordon in the May 27 Globe.

Little
Subversive People

"There is no such
thing as objective reporting...I've become even more crafty about finding the
voices to say the things I think are true. That's my subversive mission."
- Boston Globe environmental reporter Dianne Dumanoski at an Utne
Reader symposium May 17-20. Quoted by Micah Morrison in the July American
Spectator.

"I do have an axe
to grind...I want to be the little subversive person in television."
- Barbara Pyle, CNN Environmental Editor and Turner Broadcasting Vice
President for Environmental Policy, quoted in the same Spectator story.

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